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Thirty-two years before My Big Fat Greek Wedding brought Greek-American culture to a mainstream audience, Never on Sunday took mainstream culture to Greece, with similarly popular results. Expatriate director Jules Dassin wrote, directed, and costars in this vibrant and (in retrospect) rather simple-minded celebration of good living, as embodied by the vivacious Melina Mercouri in the Cannes award-winning role of her career. She's Ilya, a fiercely independent prostitute who hand-picks her clientele, and Dassin plays Homer, an American intellectual enamored of all things Greek, and determined to steer Ilya onto the straight and moral path. He's out of his depth, of course; it's not long before his efforts are exposed as naively self-serving, and half the fun of Never on Sunday comes from watching Mercouri amiably deflect any attempt to dampen her indomitable spirit. Innocently good-natured by latter-day standards, Dassin's delightful film still retains its popular charm, and its familiar bouzouki theme is an irresistible invitation to join in the fun. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

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Richard Widmark never had better exercise for his Cagney-like bouncing-ball energy than Night and the City, a classic film noir about a hustler's meteoric flame-out. Although acknowledged as one of the great noir pictures, it's actually set and shot in London, which gives an exotic, displaced novelty to the usual noir universe. Widmark's performance as Harry Fabian is a jibbering, wheedling, giggling tour de force, as Harry schemes his way to setting up a wrestling match and finally establishing himself as a "somebody." Instead, he manages to irritate the underworld heavies (memorably, Herbert Lom and Francis L. Sullivan) whose fingers are already deeply into the criminal pie. Gene Tierney and Googie Withers are the women--one good, one bad--who witness Harry's descent. This was director Jules Dassin's final project for a Hollywood studio before the blacklist forced him out, and he packs the film with tortured camera angles and spidery noir shadows; the movie's a real visual clambake. Night and the City was remade, tiredly, with Robert De Niro in 1992. Bonus:See how strongly this movie has influenced Martin Scorsese. --Robert Horton ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Brilliant British Noir
Despite the fact that "Night and the City" was technically an American film produced by Twentieth-Century Fox, the 1950 classic directed by Jules Dassin was shot at authentic London locations and conveys a realistic British film noir flavor to be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys the genre, particularly in an English setting.As such it conveys the impression of being a British film.

Dassin directed "Night and the City" when he was living as an American émigré as a result of the Communist witch-hunt period and the investigations into the film industry by the House Un-American Activities Committee.The story occurs mainly at night and Dassin makes ample use of haunting shadowy photography to showcase the nether world of London after dark, that of the sleazy nightclubs and fast buck operators lurking in the labyrinths of small twisting streets extending back to beyond Shakespeare's time.

This is the world of Harry Fabian, played by Richard Widmark in one of his early starring roles.Fabian is a promoter and manipulator who came from America to London in search of a fast buck.He finally decides that the quick route to riches is to dominate the then burgeoning early post-World War Two London professional wrestling market.

Widmark believes he has latched on to gold when he becomes friends with wrestling legend Stanislaus Zbysko, who has become disenchanted with his son, mob operator and wrestling entrepreneur Herbert Lom.Zbysko is disgusted over the trend away from the Greco-Roman wrestling sport to which the veteran performer has devoted his life in favor of a commercial form of showmanship highlighting matches between heroes and villains.Widmark seeks to drive a big wedge between father and son as he launches out as a competitor of Lom's with his famous father an integral part of his team.

Seeking to reform the unprincipled Widmark throughout the film is Gene Tierney, who works as a barely glorified B-girl in a seedy London nightclub and shells out her hard-earned money to help her boyfriend, who is ambitious in all the wrong ways.All the while her solid neighbor Hugh Marlowe hopes that she will abandon the frustrations of dealing with Widmark and give him a chance.

The British have an expression "too clever by a half" that superbly fits Widmark as he seeks to take advantage of his developing status in the London wrestling world due to his involvement with Zbysko, who in real life was a former wrestling great.He begins to taunt Mike Mazurki, then a prominent professional wrestler as well as actor, and seeks to lure the star performer of the Herbert Lom circuit into a grudge match with the protégé of Zbysko.Widmark needles Mazurki about alleged shortcomings as a wrestler and tells him that a real wrestler such as Zbysko's protégé will tear him apart.

Mazurki's forte as a character performer was as a menacing figure, as he proved in his portrayal of killer Moose Malloy in "Murder, My Sweet" starring Dick Powell.After plying himself with too many drinks Mazurki eagerly responds to Widmark's challenge and ultimately confronts an angry Zbysko, who regards Mazurki's style of wrestling as demeaning and heretical to the sport he loves.

Ultimately a hot and volatile situation provoked by Widmark's opportunism and tart tongue escalates well beyond his control.He observes two angry individuals with disparate viewpoints, Zbysko and Mazurki, ready to clash when Widmark's game plan was to tease and taunt with his ultimate objective that of filling an arena with paying customers.

Finally Widmark becomes a hunted man.This occurs after Lom becomes furious over how the American opportunistic outsider has used his father combined with a tragedy occurring at the end of the film.At that point Widmark finds that, despite all the small, circuitous London streets and various hiding places along the Thames, that the city can after all become a very small place when you are being pursued by an angry mob boss who has placed a contract on your life.

a nice film noir movie
This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film

Jules Dassin's "Night and the City" is the story of a swindler who attempts to make money through a wrestler but ends up getting a taste of his own medicine. The movie has some fine scenes of London and is very well written.

The DVD has some fine special features which are as follows.

Optional audio commentary by Glenn Erickson, Two interviews with director Jules Dassin,one new and the other from 1972, a comparison of the two film scores used for the Americna and British versions of the film, and a theatrical trailer.


This is a great DVD to get.

A Brutal, Powerful And Classic Noir
Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark) is a two-bit hustler in London. He has great dreams and great delusions. He manages to cheat and betray everyone he deals with. He has sleazy charm and the glad-handing confidence of a true loser. Nothing good is going to come of the things Harry involves himself in, and nothing does. After meeting an aging, famous wrestler, Gregorius (Stanislaus Zlysko), he hatches a scheme to start his own wrestling promotions and convinces himself that the mob that controls wrestling won't do a thing to stop him because his wrestler is the father of the mob boss, Kristo (Herbert Lom). The old man believes in the honor and purity of real Greco-Roman wrestling and Harry cons him into thinking his comeback will be the ruin of the flashy, phony stuff that's being promoted by his son. Along the way Harry steals from the club owner he works for, Phil Nosseross (Francis L. Sullivan), cuckolds him with his wife, Helen Nosseross (Googie Withers), whom he also betrays, and deludes the one woman who loves him, Mary Bristol (Gene Tierney). Things go very wrong for Harry when Phil does some betraying of his own. A brutal climax of the movie is when one of Kristo's wrestlers, The Strangler (Mike Mazurki), shows up at Harry's training hall and taunts Gregorius. Things spin out of control and suddenly Gregorius and The Strangler are in the ring and at each other's throats, a powerful old man and a wrestling thug. No one can stop them and the fight goes on and on. Gregorius finally wins, but dies minutes later. Harry has suddenly lost his protection against Kristo. He flees with Kristo's mob after him, running down wet streets and the embankment of the Thames. He doesn't escape.

This is an excellent movie that in many ways points to how powerful a well-done noir can be. Most of the film is shot at night, with harsh lighting, sweating close-ups, echoing footsteps and a gritty realism. There is no really sympathetic character in the movie, certainly not Harry. His girlfriend, played by Gene Tierney, is nearly irrelevant to the plot. Widmark does an excellent job as Harry. He was an actor who never seemed too concerned that some of his roles were of unlikable people. Harry is weak and untrustworthy but he has a kind of grubby charm. The secondary cast members are all excellent. And I can't emphasize enough how powerful the wrestling match was between Zlysko and Mazurki. It was tough to watch.

The Criterion DVD is in great shape. If you like commentaries, Glenn Erickson provides a good one.

American/British Hybrid with Wonderful Noir Style.
"Night and the City" was director Jules Dessin's last film before falling victim to the Hollywood Blacklist for 5 years. Shot in London and based on the novel by Gerald Kersh, it's a film noir great, but not strictly an American film. Screenwriter Jo Eisinger radically altered Kersh's novel. And there are two versions of the film: one exclusively for English consumption and this American version, into which director Jules Dessin had more input and which was also released to international markets. The English version is longer and features an entirely different score. But this is the shorter, tighter, more cynical American version of "Night and the City".

"Night and the City" takes place among the hustlers, club owners, and purveyors of evening entertainment in London. Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark) works as a club tout for The Silver Fox nightclub, targeting monied guests at local hot spots, cozying up to them with tall tales, and sending them over to the club for a good time. But Harry's always got scheme to get rich, as opposed to a plan of how to make a living, much to his girlfriend Mary's (Gene Tierney) chagrin. Harry's "highly inflamed imagination, coupled by delusions of grandeur" -as his employer bluntly remarks- never get him anywhere but into debt. One night Harry overhears a conversation between a old Greco-Roman wrestling champion, Gregorius (Stanislaus Zbyszko), and his son Kristo (Herbert Lom), the promoter for all London's wrestling matches. Harry sees the opportunity to exploit the elder man's distaste for the new flamboyant style of wrestling to set himself up as a promoter of old-style Greco-Roman wrestling. Gregorius agrees to work with him, and, although Kristo has a monopoly on wrestling in London, he is forced to allow Harry to proceed. But Harry must raise the cash to promote his first match. His employer, Phil Nosseross (Francis L. Sullivan) agrees to put up half of the money if Harry can match it. Harry can only do that by taking money from Nosseross' scheming wife, Helen (Googie Withers), in exchange for illegally obtaining a nightclub license for her. But Phil actually wants Harry ruined and cooperates with Kristo to see that he doesn't succeed.

The plot is convoluted. Harry goes through so many contortions to make himself into a wrestling promoter, it's a wonder he can keep his own scheme straight. Richard Widmark plays Harry beautifully. He's a loser and a heel, but he's surrounded by more predatory creatures than himself. Harry is so self-absorbed that he's blind to the vengeance he has inspired -and, of course, to the very patient woman who loves him. "All my life I've been running," he says. And that's what Harry does for all of this film, figuratively and literally. Other notable performances are Francis L. Sullivan as Phil, a thoroughly greedy man who is not so foolish as Harry, and Stanislaus Zbyszko as the naive but imposing Gregorius. Zbyszko is not a professional actor. He was a wrestling champion and international celebrity in his younger years -and I understand a very cultured man.

Max Greene's cinematography is classic film noir. Most of "Night and the City" takes place at night. It was filmed on location in London's dark, wet streets, which lend themselves perfectly to high contrast lighting and deep focus. I don't think I've ever seen as much close-up wide-angle photography as in this film. Greene brazenly distorts his characters, to a more noticeable extent than in most film noir. "Night and the City" is in some ways an oddity of the film noir style, because it takes place in Europe, was scripted and filmed by Americans, based on a British novel, with a mixed cast whose nationalities are never explained. It's filmed in an American style, but it's not an American film. On the other hand, "Night and the City"'s obsessed, irredeemable characters, cynicism, and visual style are exemplary of film noir. The great performances and noir cinematography are a joy to watch.

The DVD (Criterion Collection 2005 release): This is a very nice package of bonus features, starting with an audio commentary by film scholar Glenn Erikson, who wrote the essay "Expressionist Doom in Night and the City" for the first Film Noir Reader book. In this informative and interesting commentary, Mr. Erikson gives nearly a scene-by-scene analysis of the film in which he discusses and compares 4 versions of the story: the novel, the shooting script, the American Film, and the English film, in terms of story, characters, and history. Other bonus features include a "Jules Dessin Interview" (17 minutes) in which the director talks about casting, shooting the final sequence with 6 cameras, making the movie without having read the book, and being blacklisted in Hollywood. "2 Versions, 2 Scores" (23 minutes) is a documentary knowledgeably narrated by Christopher Husted that compares the film scores of Franz Waxman (American version) and Benjamin Frankel (English version), as well as the two different edits of the film. (Both scores are available on a double CD from www.screenarchives.com) There is a 1972 "Ciné-Parade Interview" (25 minutes) with the director in which Dessin talks to a very curious French interviewer about his difficulties working under the studio system in Hollywood and being blacklisted in the early 1950s. The interview is in French with English subtitles. There is a theatrical trailer for "Night and the City" (2 minutes). Subtitles are available for the film in English, via your remote control "subtitle" button, but I couldn't find a "set-up" or "languages" menu.

Not Dassin's Best
I understand the reasons for people's excitement about this film, and I respect the camerawork and visual style of this film, but despite my great excitement to see it, I found it extremely disappointing.Despite being a huge noir fan and a huge film fan, I sadly could not stomach the performances of almost any of the actors (excepting Mr. Lom as the wrestling kingpin).I simply find Widmark to be so completely out of place in this film that at times he is almost unwatchable.Dassin certainly donates moments of plot-twisting that are truly inspired, but on the whole, the complexity of great film noir is here drained by the actors (and by Widmark in particular).

I know this will not be a popular opinion, but for great film noir, try Dassin's Rififi or Melville's Bob Le Flambeur or Becker's Touchez pas au grisbi.This piece of American noir just has not weathered the years as well its French counterparts.

Certainly, all film noir can be read on the simplest level as moralizing fables, where the audience (superficially) always learns the same thing: crime (usually) doesn't pay.The best noir films, however, are able to deepen this lesson with human complexity that makes us see these characters reflected in ourselves and their actions in our own lives.More basic and fundamental human truths are revealed, and human nature itself is even questioned.In the case of Night and the City, though, the performances only distance us from the characters as the film moves along, and by the end, Widmark is so easily pigeonholed as a character who has "made too many mistakes," that it is impossible to imagine oneself in his struggle. The film asks us to put ourselves in his place (and not every film does, but this one definitely does), but we can't.His decisions have been too obviously outlandish.

If you enjoy watching films and judging the characters in them from your couch, pointing out their flaws and feeling superior to them, certainly this is the film for you, and a good one.Your high self opinion will surely be confirmed.If you prefer your morals on the fuzzy side, however, try a different, grayer noir.This one was just too black and white. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Great movie, but truly lousy MGM DVD transfer
This '60s heist movie sparkles, dazzles, and charms with its strong international cast, story adapted from an Eric Ambler mystery novel, and typically great direction from Jules (Rafifi) Dassin. Dassin gets a truly captivating performance from his wife Melina Mercouri as a thief obsessed with stealing the Topkapi emeralds, and an Academy Award-winning comic turn from Peter Ustinov. This was my favorite movie of all time when watching it on tv as a child. I waited a while to see it on DVD. Sadly, MGM seems to have transferred the movie through a vat of mud. The source print is faded and looks lousy. The movie is great, as is the theme song.

Wonderfully entertaining, with great Ustinov performance
One of my favorite films, and quite possibly the most entertaining caper movie of all time. A jewell thief (Melina Mercouri) has her heart set on a fabulous emerald-encrusted dagger. The priceless object is being kept at the high-security Topkapi Museum in Istanbul. Mercouri enlists the aid of sometime lover (and professional thief) Maximilian Schell to devise and execute an intricate plan of stealing the dagger. Schell assembles a team that includes Robert Morley as an inventor and electronics expert, and Peter Ustinov as a small-time con man who doesn't realize that he's part of the scheme. Ustinov is persuaded to spy on Mercouri's group by Turkish authorities who think the gang members are terrorists, but he is eventually made aware of the actual intentions of the thieves. The first few minutes of TOPKAPI may lead you to believe that you're in store for one of those hopelessly fluffy "comedies" of the 60's. But don't be fooled. From the moment the jovially frantic music score is played over the opening credits, rest assured that you're about to be treated to a light-hearted, fast-paced movie that expertly combines humor, suspense, and thrills. The international cast is great, but Peter Ustinov is especially delightful to watch in the role that won him the 1964 Oscar for best supporting actor. As Arthur Simpson, a shifty yet sympathetic character who gets used by just about everyone in the film, Ustinov easily steals the movie (although Akim Tamiroff also has his share of funny moments as a drunken cook). This film has all the elements for a first-rate piece of entertainment: an engaging cast, exotic locales, good dialogue, and artful direction by Jules Dassin whose earlier work in RIFIFI partly inspired this movie. TOPKAPI is a wonderfully entertaining motion picture that should appeal to everyone.

DVD Widescreen Transfer Is Perfect
I must elaborate more on the reviewer who said that the transfer to DVD looked like it had been dragged through a vat of mud. I had the movie on VHS tape and knew what to expect of it. The reviewer may have only noted the first 6-7 minutes of the movie which I would call a dream sequence with shades of different colors around the screen. Once this sequence is over, the movie is normal and the transfer to DVD which I rented was perfect. The movie was just as it is on my VHS tape but of better quality, of course.

Topkapi
This is in the end a good caper movie and maybe worth watching because its possible a lot its elements have been emulated in other films like the Pink Panther, Mission:Impossible and Entrapment.
It is a jewel theft caper involving a hypersensitive floor security system, where you drop in from the roof. I am not giving anything away that isn't in the trailer. But it is stuff you have now seen many times before. The gymnastics and plotting of how that is carried out is the variance. There is some pretty good tension in pulling off the crime.
As in any movie like this, whether you like it depends a lot more on whether you like the characters. And this is the point where the film gets a little iffy for me. This is the first Melina Mercouri I have seen. So I don't have the perspective of years prior knowing what a great beauty she was. I am going to get in trouble for calling it as I see it her. Melina Mercouri is an attractive enough older woman but well past her prime and trying and failing to hide it behind hair died from silver gray to blonde and heavy mascara and eyeshadow. But perhaps she is merely past her prime and just unapologetic and sassy about it.
The effect is the same. She is a little grotesque.Maximillian Schell on the other hand is a truly handsome and suave as the organizer of the plot.
Peter Ustinov is cute. As a fairly early role you see him here developing a lot of his most popular affectations that will serve him well in future roles. This production seems a little low budget and doesn't show off his distinctive voice and mannerisms as well as a film with more deft camera direction and better sound can. The stalwart British character actor Robert Morely as the inventor is very good. Also on the team is a brutish strong man who seems to have little purpose in the film who is partnered with an acrobat who cleverly mimes most of his part because he is a mute.
Ordinarily I don't have much trouble making allowances for the style of films of the various decades but Topkapi has a style that to me seems particularly dated and tips the hand of its minimal budget badly. There are many filler shots of the marketplace and locals of Istanbul that aren't particularly interesting and slow the pace of the film down. Also the image and sound is of marginal quality and frequently dubbed though it is an english speaking film.Its not out of synch but it has that odd unnatural feel to it. If you mind has the mental alacrity to make allowances for this its a clever enough film to keep you entertained. But I can't imagine anyone under 25 raised on modern production values not being a little antsy and impatient deciphering some of the slightly muffled heavy accents of the international cast.

Certainly a better film than Entrapment. I think overall the film is merely OK. Either of the Ocean's Eleven films does has a more entertaining ensemble cast and are more fun to watch in this genre.

rififi....
A band of thieves, assembled by a deliciously intent Mercouri, attempts to steal a fabulous emerald-encrusted dagger from the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul. The utimate theft is depicted in a long sequence reminiscent of his earlier heist scene-but this time with considerably more levity. Dassin assembled a flawless cast of charming rogues and charlatans, including Peter Ustinov in an especially humorous performance that earned him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. If you are not a WT, then it is a very nice movie for you.... ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

Hollywood's loss was Europe's gain when Jules Dassin fled America because of the House Un-American Activities Committee blacklist at the end of the 1940s. His films helped bring the moral ambiguity of the postwar American thriller to Europe, inspiring a new generation of critics and filmmakers. Writing several years before he made The 400 Blows, François Truffaut praised Dassin for the way his films "combin[ed] the documentary approach with lyricism," a method that would inform many of the new wave films of the '60s.

Rififi, shot on the rainy streets of Paris, is imbued with the same gritty realism that marked Dassin's earlier work in New York (The Naked City) and London (Night and the City). Jean Servais plays Tony le Stéphanois, an aging crook whose thin lips and tired, seen-it-all eyes give him a look somewhere between Humphrey Bogart and Harry Dean Stanton. Out of jail after a five-year stretch, he joins up with a couple of pals to pull one last heist: a jewel robbery that is portrayed in such detail (including tips on how to silence an alarm using a fire extinguisher) that the film was banned in several countries.

The robbery sequence alone, which lasts for 30 minutes and is played entirely without dialogue, would be enough to ensure Rififi's classic status, but there's a lot more to enjoy, including terrific performances from Marie Sabouret as Tony's world-weary ex-girlfriend, and from Dassin himself as a dandified Italian safecracker with an eye for the ladies. After the thrill of the heist, in the film's final scenes when, with the inevitability of the best films noirs everything falls apart, Dassin achieves the lyricism that Truffaut admired so much. By combining the conventions of a caper movie with his own brand of bleak nihilism, he made Rififi into a film that deserves to be counted among the best ever made.--Simon Leake ... Read more

Reviews (27)

MASTERPIECE
Jules Dassin does have a seat of choice in the gallery of Movie History. The movies he directed in Hollywood in the late forties are now classics and his courage under the Mc Carthy era demands our utmost respect. Exiled in France, he directed RIFIFI aka " Du Rififi Chez Les Hommes " in 1954 based on a Série Noire novel of Auguste le Breton. And it's simply one of the best films noirs ever made.

Jean Servais is perfect as a french Bogart marked by tuberculosis, Robert Hossein, in his first role, terrifying as a drug addict tougher than George Raft and Jules Dassin himself, in the role of an italian bad guy, very convincing. Add a wonderful singing act of Magali Noël, the french starlet of the sixties, the great Alexandre - The Children of Paradise - Trauner as art director and the 30 minutes anthology scene, without musical score nor dialogs, of the robbery and you have a movie you can't neglect if you are a true movie lover.

The copy presented in this Criterion DVD release is definitive and the 25 minutes interview with Jules Dassin a bonus feature very appreciated. There is also the choice between the french subtitled version and a dubbed version for the lazy ones. How can you still hesitate ! Go, buy and be happy.

A DVD zone your library.

Another Great Criterion Release
After something of a dry spell, Criterion has finally released a bunch of great DVDs this month. Their edition of "Rififi" - while probably not as well known as their mammoth "Spartacus" release - deserves a lot of praise. They've included an interview with the director, Jules Dassin (still alive at 90 years) and their remastered print has the stark clarity - and beauty - of the work they did on "The Third Man."

"Rififi" is almost the same caliber of "The Third Man." Its a crime story - its about a quartet of thieves who after pulling off a daring robbery (the robbery itself is an wonderfully extended silent sequence) and it has a lot of the "late-noir" ambience that the "Third Man" and "Touch of Evil" have. Jean Sevrais is fantastic as the ringleader although the film lacks the real dynamic characterizations that make "The Third Man" so compelling. Since "Rififi" has been made in so many incarnations - including "Reservoir Dogs" - its a bit predictable as well.

Still, "Rififi" is a wonderful film - an American noir (directed by an expatriate American living in France) that's been perfectly recast into its French surroundings. Buy, watch, and savour.

Rififi needs editing? Hardly.
Rififi needs editing? Hardly. Rififi needs nothing but bowing down to. Some college Joes from Collegeville need editing. The permanent kind. Can there honestly be a place in the world out there called "Collegeville"?

Needs Editing
I'm sure film school buffs, Tarrentino too, thought this movie great simply becaue it cost so little. Isn't that every film student's dream: make a movie for peanuts and get famous. This movie is the first heist flick and it is influential. The burglery is clever and without special effects, so I applaud the simplicity, but this film needs editing. It is too long. There's a half hour of baloney to remove to tighten this baby up. Jules Dassin should know better and he gets a lot of credit because he's on the Black List? You see, the Black List is the lightning rod for the Left, very emotional. Hey, if you're trying to destroy democracy and capitalism in the richest, most succesful country ever, am I supposed to send you roses? My favorite scene -- the kid crawling all over the convertable 54 Oldsmobile laughing his head off while Tony is bleeding to death. It makes no sense, but its so French New Wave.

Instead of
reading the re-hashes of the plot below (so many people still don't understand what "review" means), and the one person who dubbed it "Boring" (find another past time, OK?), check out the reviews that really talk about this film, and then treat yurself and buy it. YOu won't be disappointed. It's a true classic. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The rugged world of long-haul trucking knits perfectly with classic film noir dynamics in this sizzling, underrated picture. Navy veteran Richard Conte returns home to California, only to plunge into a revenge scenario and a scheme to haul the season's first apples to the teeming San Francisco fruit market (a place seen as a nocturnal jungle for the survival of the fittest). Lee J. Cobb enjoys himself enormously as the chiseling boss at the Frisco market, Millard Mitchell is wry as Conte's angle-playing trucking partner, and Valentina Cortese adds a bright, sexy exoticism to the multi-layered duplicitous dame. Director Jules Dassin, in his last American-shot film before blacklisting, shows his expressive abilities with shadowy interiors and road-movie exteriors alike. The punchy screenplay by A.I. Bezzerides, whose trucking experiences also fueled They Drive by Night, is a textbook case for the complexities of pulp--not apples, fiction. --Robert Horton ... Read more

Reviews (4)

an excellent film noir piece.
This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

"Thieves' Highway" is one of the most impressive moves I have seen in the film noir genre.

It is about a young man just home from the navy and his attempt to get revenge on a merchant that swindled his father and caused him to lose both legs. He spends his money to get a job as a truck driver and he makes a large delivery of apples to the merchant. But there are people trying to sabotage his efforts.

The film is well made, has great acting, and some very good on location work at the market square in San Francisco.

The special features are great also.

There is a theatrical trailer, an interview with director Jules Dassin, and optional audio commentary by Alain Silver, an expert on film noir. there is also a trailer for the upcoming documentary "The Long Haul of A.I. Bezzerides", a biography of A.I. Bezzerides who wroe the screenplay and novel that the film is based on.

This is a must see film!

The Bright Light of Noir
Exhausting Jules Dassin film details the fall of rising man Nick Garcos---the turn towards hell of Nick isn't as intense as Glenn Ford's Sgt. Bannion in Lang's The Big Heat, probably due to the charm of Richard Conte---nonetheless, the film pulls few punches (watch out for the ending, though)---the film has moments as good as the first half of They Drive By Night (1940) and moments just as bad.

terrific movie and great commentary
I'm a big fan of both film noir and commentary tracks, and this disk has the best commentary of any film noir I've yet seen. It's done by Alain Silver, author of several books on noir, and coeditor of the "you gotta have it" book on noir: "Film Noir; An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style."I was particularly impressed with the professional production values of the commentary. Silver will mention a key piece of dialog, and precisely on cue he'll stop talking and the sound level of the dialog will come up so you can hear what he was talking about. Several times I found myself wondering how they timed things so neatly.

Silver does a great job of pointing out the thousand details that make the movie work as a movie, the turns of plot that are typical of film noir, the use of darkness and shadow, the framing of scenes and placement of the actors, etc., etc.

Other reviewers have put in their vote for the quality of Thieves' Highway as a compelling and well made movie. I'd like to add my plug for the commentary track. In addition to being darn good entertainment, this is a movie that rewards careful examination and thoughtful reflection. Silver's comments are terrific guide to that reward.

Excellent film noir through the truck lights...
Vultures prey upon the dead, as they are a vital part of the ecosystem that helps with environmental sanitization. Humans, however, are a different story, as they prey upon the living, the dead, and sometimes kill to accomplish their desired result. The reasons to why a person would go to great lengths to achieve desired results varies from person to person, but it often has to do with money. Jules Dassin's story Theives' Highway is an illustration of humans and their greed, which appears to be the motivation factor to break the compassionate fabric of moral value, ethics, and kindness in the true spirit of film noir.

Unlike film noir Thieves' Highway opens with Nick Garcos' (Richard Conte) homecoming during a sunny afternoon accompanied by hearing his father singing in the kitchen. Nick has brought presents to all of his family members and a bundle of money, which he has earned in order to settle down. The money should help Nick get married to Polly (Barbara Lawrence) and go into business with her father. However, this joyous moment is suddenly halted, as Nick finds out that his father has lost his legs.

Nick's father informs him of how he lost his legs, as he had done business with a certain Mr. Figlia (Lee J. Cobb). The story that Nick hears makes him cringe in anger, as he understands that Mr. Figlia had set up his dad through a dubious plan. When Nick heard the whole story he decides to return to his father's truck, as the man, Ed Prentiss (Millard Mitchell), who bought it had not yet paid for the truck. However, Nick goes into business with Ed and together they pick up some Golden Delicious apples that he intends to take to Mr. Figlia.

The life of a trucker means long hours, deadly and financial dangers, and very little sleep, as life on the road cuts between the driver and their family while they try to find a way to make a buck for their near and dear. Nick decides that this is what he wants to do, as Ed and he pick up two trucks full of apples in Fresno. The apples are to be taken to the wholesale produce market in San Francisco, which is described as a 36-hour drive.

In San Francisco the audience gets to follow Nick on his quest to find Mr. Figlia, an idea that never seemed to be fully thought through. Eventually he finds him and discovers that he is the man that he suspected him to be, a ruthless businessman that shows no consideration for anyone. The only thing that he seems to care about is the money he makes, which he is not willing to part with.

They Drive by Night (1940) offers a similar cinematic experience as Dassin's film, as it also depicts the struggles of truck drivers. However, Raoul Walsh's story is more glamorous, as the tale slowly drifts away from the tough life of being a truck driver. Dassin's story focuses on the job and on the characters within the environment in which they exists. They cannot escape to a better place, as it is their destiny to be where they are while they have to make the most out of it

A valuable side note is that the year after Thieves' Highway was released Jules Dassin was identified as communist by Edward Dmytryk, which made him blacklisted. As a result Hollywood lost one of their most promising directors and Dassin decided moved to France where he continued to make films. He made great films such as Rififi (1955) and Never on Sunday (1960). In the awareness of Dassin being blacklisted the audience gets to experience the films he made prior being blacklisted, which have terrific cinematic value. Thieves' Highway is one of these films that he left for coming generations to enjoy and ponder. ... Read more

Description

New York City detectives Dan Muldoon (Barry Fitzgerald) and Jimmy Halloran (Don Taylor) are assigned to investigate the mysterious murder of a young woman. Following the leads in the case, they come upon a jewel theft ring that has been plaguing New York society. Muldoon and Halloran finally untangle the skein of thieves and discover the murderer to be one of the slain woman's cohorts in the jewel gang. When cornered by the detectives, there is a violent shoot-out. ... Read more

Description

Caged men, cut off from their women by a wall of stone and steel! Joe Collins (Burt Lancaster) schemes to break out of Westgate prison to be with his girl, who won't have a lifesaving operation until Joe is at her side. But Joe's hatred of Munsey (Hume Cronyn), the cruel guard captain, grows intense and threatens his escape. Tipped off to the plan, Capt. Munsey meets the prisoner's escape attempt with machine guns... ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Intense and fraught with fear
Burt Lancaster stars in this tough, grim noir-drenched prison flick, in which a sadistic prison guard (a young Hume Cronyn) manipulates tensions and weaknesses to produce an explosive situation. The film's liberal message butts up against its obligatory "crime never pays" ending; the convicts are sympathetic, but doomed from the word "go." A little stagey and lurid, but overall tense and suspenseful -- the ending is a real nail-biter. Recommended.

A Hammer
There's a feverish undercurrent to this prison film that occasionally erupts into outright delirium ( the prison break, the interrogation scene). As delivered by Director Jules Dassin and screenwriter Richard Brooks, the film's anti-fascist message is put in your face, not in your lap. Still it's exciting stuff, except for the draggy domestic scenes that are meant to humanize the cons, but instead disrupt the film's relentless pace and super-charged atmosphere. Burt Lancaster gives a career performance, while Hume Cronyn is surprisingly effective as the sly Nazi-like warden. There are many notables in the supporting cast, especially Art Smith as the humane but feckless doctor and Sir Lancelot as his calypso assistant. I suspect there's a provocative parable lurking somewhere in the subtext, something about the inability of liberals (the old warden and the doc) to contain the brute impulse it takes to keep people in prison. This is revealed at film's end when the camera dollys back to reveal the doc behind office bars and speaking toward the camera, then we know the movie is about more than a bunch of desperate convicts breaking through prison walls. Despite its many flaws, this stark melodrama keeps coming at you with the mesmerizing force of an uplifted hammer and should not be missed.

What happened with the closed caption subtitles?
Love this movie. A brilliant film by master Dassin! But this DVD was a gift for a deaf friend! Yeah... I know... I didn't read the cover guidelines. Anyway, I think one of the best things of DVD are the multiple languages or caption subtitles. Image must do something.

A Dark Look At Prison Life
Brute Force is a surprisingly tough look at life in a prison, given the time when it was made. Burt Lancaster stars as an inmate who plans his escape to be with his critically ill girlfriend, Ann Blyth. He enlists the help of his cellmates and an older, experienced inmate, Charles Bickford. Standing in their way is a brutal, ambitious guard played very well by Hume Cronyn. There are a number of great scenes in the movie, including Cronyn's beating of an inmate to the sound of classical music, and the death in a giant press of an inmate that informed. The performances are good, the film moves at an excellent pace, and the ending surprised me somewhat, again given the time that it was made. Brute Force is a very good movie.

Raining Force!
The film opens in the pouring rain at a prison. The proceedings are advanced by an electric cast including Lancaster, Bickford, Cronin, John Hoyt, Whit Bissell, Art Smith and Howard Duff. In the finale, when Lancaster learns who the pidgeon really is...the look on his face will send chills up your spine...No dialogue is needed. Bleak and almost surreal! ... Read more

Description

An all star cast fuels this story of a sleepy Italian fishing village where illicit passions, hypocrisy and abuse churn beneath the town's quiet surface. In this riveting drama, directed by Jules Dassin (Topkapi, Night and the City, Never on Sunday), Gina Lollobrigida smoulders as Marietta, the most attractive woman in town. Every man wants her, but she only has eyes for Enrico (Marcello Mastroianni), a young, handsome engineer whose desperate poverty prevents him from marrying her. Yves Montand is Matteo Brigante, an unscrupulous gangster who seduces his son's girlfriend, Donna Lucrezia (Melina Mercouri), to break them up. The tensions steadily build and threaten to explode in a town where "the law" is a cruel game played by men ruled by their desires. Originally released in the U.S. as "Where the Hot Wind Blows." ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Gina Lollobrigida Rules!!
Gina Lollobrigida rules in this movie about life and love in a small italian fishing village.It's a must see classic!!

Strange fish of a movie
What a wonderful cast of actors (good grief: even the son of the director, Joe Dassin , later known as a very popular singer in France, has a small part..)and what strange going-ons in this plot involving the games of power in a (otherwise lovely and peaceful) Italian fisherman's village. It is corny at time , gripping at others,with beautiful camera shots and a never flagging smoldering action, as the heat builds on in the village as well as on the screen.But why did AMAZON list this movie as being Italian spoken, when the version I received is actually in French? ... Read more